More Vocabulary of Chains

Linda Kaye-Moses' The Vocabulary of Chains (in the latest issue of Metal Clay Artist Magazine, vol. 2, issue 4) and Joy Funnell's Summertime Bling chain necklace project (MCAM's last issue, vol. 2, issue 3) will have you thinking about chains and metal clay in a new light.

Coincidentally, I just completed a course about chain-making with Leslie Hartwell at Metalwerx, in Waltham, MA. Inspired by Linda's and Joy's articles and Leslie's class, I thought I'd share some more ideas for expanding your own chain vocabulary.

Often, we spend so much time and effort working on a piece that when it is ready to be paired with a chain, we grab the most convenient commercially-made one and we're done.

Integrating the chain and pendant requires a little pre-planning. Think about the chain, too, when you are designing your piece. What kind of chain will complement the pendant? Will the finished piece look unified?  How will the chain connect with the pendant? Also, think about other things, such as proportion—should the chain be large and chunky? Or thin and delicate?

If fabricating a custom chain is not your thing, there are ways to modify commercially-made chain that might be a solution for you.

Consider altering chain by methods like hammering, cutting apart, or applying patina.

Upper left: Altering commercial chain by cutting apart and interspersing with beads, plus adding patina
Upper right and bottom photos: custom made chains

For example; if you have a chain with large, open links—you can rest the edge of a link on your bench block and hammer it. The link can be turned and hammered all the way around, or just partially hammered. A pattern can be created by hammering alternate links or every link. How about hammering just a centerpiece where the pendant will hang?

Chains can be cut apart and the segments re-joined with interspersed beads—or like Linda's project—custom-made metal clay components. Graduated size chains can be linked into one, unified look. You can connect multiple strands of chain to single strand sections. How about mixing metals?

Adding a patina to the chain might be just that little extra something to bring the entire piece together with a customized feel.

If you enjoy making more complex work, there are many additional ways to design chains to complement a pendant. You can be daring and fabricate a chain, or a section of chain, from metal clay. Or, you can make your own chain by soldering wire. Several books are available for soldered chain technical information and design inspiration. Here are three that I really like:

• The Complete Metalsmith by Tim McCreight. This book has a wealth of information—so it's a worthwhile addition to your books anyway—but in this case it offers many tips on chain construction, chain styles, clasps and bails.
• Creative Silver Chains by Chantal Lise Saunders. Nice step by step instructions on some interesting designs, plus a very good introductory section with information on materials, techniques and design inspiration.
• Making Silver Chains by Glen F. Waszek is another well-organized book with great step by step instructions and a lot of good lessons for working with silver.

~ Evelyn

Now You See It, Now You Don’t…Transforming Your Workspace

The latest Reader Challenge is to show us your workspace. 

We all love to see where other artists work! 

MCAM reader, Yvonne Kuennen shares her experience with organizing her space and clearing the clutter… 

When you work with metal clay, you tend to fall in love with it because it takes up so little space. It’s extremely portable, and a very small toolbox will hold most of your tools. Many of the basic tools are common things you might find in your kitchen or around the house: miniature rolling pin, cookies cutters, picks, emery boards, brushes, etc. In no time at all the tools multiply; and, before you know it, take over a portion of your house! The other people who share that living space are forced to give it up. It really is unfair—to everyone concerned. 

It is a challenge to organize so many tiny tools. You can’t have too many tools or too many beads (everyone knows that)! The question is, what do you let go of? 

In my study of Feng Shui I ran across a book entitled Clearing the Clutter. Then I attended a workshop on the same topic. The basic premise for Feng Shui is in the clearing of spaces. The best tip I learned was to create three boxes (or bins) with these labels: donate/repurpose, pitch and keep. The trick for me was getting the boxes to the thrift store or the trash before I got a chance to pull things back out. I kept telling myself, “less is more.” It is so true. 

Sort it all out and systematically categorize the things you are sorting through. If anything appears to be taking up too much space, find a bin for it. Be ruthless…is it being used? Selling or donating unused items is the easiest route in making them go away. The cash or credit you receive is such a plus that the pain of letting go is minimized.

Space planning is also no small feat. It requires a good deal of thoughtful planning and engineering. It also requires a high degree of organization. Without organization, you don’t know what get rid of. In my own case, the dining room table became a parking lot for all stages of design and production. 

I struggled for months (years to be truthful) to figure out a better order for all these things. I had several different beading rooms, but each one became a cluttered nightmare with no visible tabletop to work on.

VOILA! My husband Michael, the wood artist, built a wall-to-wall bookcase from “stick.” It is five sections from floor to ceiling, made of alder-stained cherry with cupboards beneath each section. Each cupboard now houses the myriad of tools and various pieces of equipment for my trade.

One cupboard has kits for seven students (my maximum for teaching workshops), the next has a tower of drawers to house all the molds I’ve made, a variety of texture tips, cutters and the like. The third holds all my firing equipment in a work bucket. The fourth has all my scrap glass and tools for making the dichroic cabochons. The fifth stands empty—yet to be filled, but that is a good thing since I am not finished. I still have beads to organize (get rid of)? The best organizing tool that I have found for beads are 5.5 x 9 x 1 inch trays with separator black felt bottoms. Some even have tops that snap shut. These trays stack neatly, and once labeled, make it easy to find a particular bead.

Bringing peace into your house by organizing your workspace can be done without a degree in Feng Shui. It is highly recommended to understand the principles of this ancient art of placement and worth any time you can spend studying it. The timing is important because the process is difficult on an emotional level. Several weeks in between “pitches” made it easier for me, and each one was less painful than the first. The art of organizing your workspace is a process, and you have to remember to “trust the process.” What a difference it has made to have a clean dining room table! 

With my new organized workspace, I find myself being much more productive .

My head is clear and I find more room to design and plan new projects. In demonstrating my respect for other people’s space, my relationships have improved. I have started cooking again due to the newly cleared dining room table. The kitchen is no longer permanent parking space for the crème brulee torch, torch stand and tumbler!

~ Yvonne Kuennen

I am an Artist and very proud of all my "cakes" !

I have seen a lot of discussions lately about what "Metal Clay" is for some metalsmithing people and I am surprised to see how much misinformation they have about this innovative material.
I understand their lack of knowledge, and those who tried it and said it was a mess, and it does not work. Well, I have some news for you; you did not work with the clay the right way.


I respect everybody's opinion but I think there is a point where we need to be careful in how we talk about people who have chosen to work with metal clay, we can express our thinking without being rude and without insulting.
I have been called lots of names because of my ethnicity but I never thought I will be called "names" because of the medium or material I choose to create some of my work.


One of the latest names I saw was "Cake Decorator", people who work with metal clay are consider to be that by some.
I am okay with the name, I LOVE CAKES !!!
Other people feel we are "pretending to BE" metalsmiths.
We are not pretending to be "Anything", we are just people who have chosen to work with Metal Clay and create art. We are not "cake decorators", "metalsmiths", etc. We are just Artists that are open to experiment with new materials and we are always willing to learn new techniques.


I always encourage my students to learn how to solder and fabricate pieces because it will benefit their own metal clay work.


I started my journey in the art by learning metalsmithing, it was my wonderful and talented teacher -Claire Holliday- who introduced me to this novel material, metal clay, that Claire used to create some of her work. 
One of Claire's metal clay pieces was featured in the front cover of the Metalsmith magazine, a publication of the Society of North American Goldsmiths.

Sea Seed No. 1 (Brooch)
©2005 Claire Holliday
Fine Silver
Photo: Dean Powell

In 2010 I had a wonderful opportunity to show my work (not exclusively metal clay) to other talented and renowned metalsmith artists, among them, Thomas Mann. Thomas was so intrigued and interested that traded one of his pieces for one of mine.I was honored to do a trade with him !

Thomas visiting my table and looking at my work.

Another fascinating and mind opening experience that helped me expand my creativity and techniques, was when I had the pleasure to participate in a workshop and lecture by Robert Ebendorf at the Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, Texas.
What I learned from Bob gave me a new dimension to create, incorporating traditional metalsmith  fabrication techniques with the distinctive style promoted by Bob's work but keeping my own creative voice and designs.

In case you don't know, Bob was one of the founding members of the Society of North American Goldsmiths and an inductee of the National Metalsmiths Hall of Fame.


During the workshop, when Bob saw one of my hand sculpted copper clay trees of life, he suggested to me to create a piece using what I learned from him and using the tree of life as the center component.


This piece was later featured in the front cover of the Metal Clay Artist Magazine, and many other publications.

I really want to give thanks to a lot of my metalsmiths friends and colleagues that are open to see beyond the material. I have learn a lot from all of you. 



Keep learning, keep experimenting, keep creating !


Love,
Lorena Angulo

A Splash of Colour

I love adding colour to my work and sometimes it does not need a lot to make your work really stand out from the crowd and if you are lucky catch the eye of a potential customer.

I made these earrings above recently and they all have a little enamel, but just a bit of resin would work equally as well. There are lots of different ways to add colour including Keum Boo, prismacolor pencils and patinas so get thinking! 

Even one simple colour in the middle of a piece can make all the difference like the enamelled ones below.

So why not give it a go and add a bit of colour to your life ;-)

Have fun....

Joy

Yoga for Metal Clay Artists

Sometimes when I’m working at my bench, I concentrate so hard it occurs to me that I almost forget to breathe! Not a good thing, because I like to breathe and plan to keep doing it as long as I can.

Another thing I do is tense up my muscles all around my neck and shoulders. And I don’t blink my eyes often enough… You get the picture.

I’ve been practicing yoga for many years, and I have realized that I should apply some of my yoga practice when I’m working. I discussed the idea with Rosie, my yoga teacher, and she had several suggestions. I thought I would share a few ideas with those of you who also think you might benefit from this.

All of these movements should be done very slowly, gently and deliberately. Never do anything that hurts. These are gentle stretches intended to release your body from the tension that builds when we concentrate so hard. This is not intended to be a workout!

Start with the breath. These are called 4-7-8 breaths. Sitting up straight, inhale slowly and mindfully to a count of 4. Hold your breath to a count of 7. Then, exhale slowly to a count of 8. Slowly repeat a few times, taking care not to make yourself dizzy.

Now the eyes– periodically it’s a good habit to give your eyes a little break. Try these movements; look up to your forehead, then straight down to your chin. Stretch your eyes to look as far to the periphery as you can. Look up, then down, several times. Then do the same thing, but look left and right– from ear to ear. Afterward, rub the palms of your hands together vigorously to generate some heat. Then, cup your hands over your eyes, resting the heals of your hands on your cheekbones and your fingertips at your forehead. Close your eyes and let the warmth and darkness relax the eye muscles.

Next, the neck. Sitting up straight, with your shoulders evenly across, slowly lift the neck as if to stretch the spine. Very slowly and gently lower your chin to your chest. Then, slowly tip your head to the right and roll your head around—right, back, left, and front. Roll very gently and don’t strain your neck. Keep your chin pointed to the center and pivot around it. Next, repeat in the opposite direction. After that– stretch upright again, lifting the neck. Keeping your shoulders down, slowly and gently turn your head to look over your right shoulder. Then, move across to look over your left shoulder. Relax.

Now, the shoulders. Again, sit up straight, shoulders straight across. Then, lower your shoulders down. Roll your shoulders around to the back, then raise them up to your ears, then forward. Roll your shoulders several times, gently. Relax. Repeat in the opposite direction.

Last, something for your forearms, wrists and hands. Sitting up straight, hold your arms against your sides. Raise your forearms at a 90 degree angle out in front of you, hands straight out with the palms down, fingertips pointing forward. Holding your forearms in this position without moving them, bend your wrists so your hands are facing straight up– palms out, fingers pointing to the ceiling. Now slowly bend your wrists so your hands are facing down, backs of the hands out, fingers pointing to the floor. Keep your forearms in the same position without moving them. The wrists and hands will do all the moving. Repeat up and down, several times. Then, bend the wrists so your fingertips point right, backs of the hands out, palms toward you (as much as possible), forearms still not moving. Repeat by bending your wrists to the left. Left, right, several times, slowly. Then, still keeping the forearms straight, stretch your hands out fully, palms out, fingertips pointing up to the ceiling. Then squeeze the hands into in a fist. Stretch and squeeze, several times.

I hope you find these exercises calming, but at the same time getting the blood flowing! There are many more ways yoga can be practiced at your bench. Give it a try. Namaste!

~ Evelyn

Metal Clay World Conference

After much anticipation, the MCWC finally arrived!  I packed and loaded my car and headed off to the airport.  But it seemed that between the heat and road blocks in my area, and the freak thunderstorms in the Chicago area, I was not to make it there.  But eventually, I did and boy was it worth it!

Yup!  That's right-- 37 degrees! (That's 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit!) Who says Canada is always cold?

 Don't they know I'm trying to get to the airport to catch a plane and go to the Metal Clay conference????

Chicago--as close as I got to it at least!

This year’s conference was the best MCWC to date!  Great work Jackie, Tom, Katie and staff at Art Clay World, USA.  The accommodations, workshops, lectures and presentations were top notch!  I attended as many conference presentations as I could--if only there were more days to the conference.  I had a very hard time choosing which lecture to attend.

I was so busy at the conference, I forgot to take many photos!    This photo is from the presentation by Deb Wajnarawski.  She is demonstrating soldering, and the live video is up on the screen.

The shopping was also most enjoyable! Talking with the vendors, many of whom are advertisers in our magazine is always interesting.  Some vendors save new products to unveil at the conference--so it is always cool to be in on something brand new! My credit card was squeaking by the time the vendor room closed…so I headed over to the polymer clay retreat room and did some damage in there finding great beads, pendants and rings for sale by the artists who made them.

This beautiful polymer clay ring is by Ponsawan Sila.

I enjoyed attending a pre-conference workshop with Ronna Sarvas Weltman. Along with learning some tricks for polymer clay, making new friends was serendipitous!  Meeting the people who have written for the magazine, or that I’ve chatted with online or on Facebook is the best part about attending a conference!! 

Pictured is Joy Funnell and a larger than life version of the cover which showcased her piece on the cover.  The second cover (bottom) is a piece by Hattie Sanderson.

Me, Pam East, Lorrene Baum-Davis, Hattie Sanderson and Mary Ellin D'Agostino.

Many people wore jewellery that they made, so walking anywhere at the conference was like attending a live art show!  After losing most of my pieces to a thief in airport security last year, I had to grovel and beg to borrow pieces from my friends.  Lucky for me, I have talented friends! (In the photo above I'm wearing a necklace by Kathleen Nowak Tucci.  Besides the necklace, also in this picture is Judi Weers, me, Ann Davis, Lorrene Baum-Davis, and Sherry Chaples.)

I also had fun celebrating the magazine's second birthday with birthday cake of course!

 During the conference, I presented a lecture on “How-To Write a How To”.  I know that it is rather surprising for me to talk about writing articles for a magazine!  Part way through my presentation, I asked everyone to “change hats” from a magazine reader and to put on their “writer's hats”.  What good sports everyone was! Thank you!

If you were not at the conference and you’d like copies of my handouts, please e-mail me: editor@metalclayartistmag.com I'd be happy to send them to you. I gave out two handouts—one was a "fill in the blank" form. When all sections are filled in, the article you are writing is almost complete!  How easy is that?  The other handout is a completed sample. 

Everyone has a story, a technique or a unique way of doing something.  I look forward to having articles printed in the magazine from new artists, and from artists we all know and love!  Each issue of our magazine has been filled to the brim with outstanding articles and awesome projects, all written by metal clay artists! Come on--pitch your ideas!

~Jeannette Froese LeBlanc

Gilders Paste - A new way to add color to your metal work

Gilders Paste is a wonderful medium to use if you are looking for a way to add color to your metal work. It is very easy to apply and I am sure you will have great fun doing it.


Gilders paste is a wax based medium used to highlight wood, porcelain, plastic, resin, metal, wax, etc. It comes in different colors and you can apply it directly with your fingers, sponge, cloth or use some mineral spirits to make the paste more creamy and easy to apply with a small paint brush.


Before applying the paste to the metal piece, we need to be sure it is free of dust and oil. If the surface is smooth you may have to use a fine sanding paper to create some texture in the metal. The paste will apply better if the metal has some kind of texture in it.


The paste dries to the touch in about 10 minutes and takes 12 hours to fully dry.
You have enough time to take the color out if you are not happy with it. You can use a cloth to take the color out or mineral spirit.


After your piece is totally dry, you have to finish the piece with a clear lacquer.

©Lorena Angulo
PMC3 and Gilders paste color Patina

SPRING MASK
©2009 Lorena Angulo
Copprclay and Gilders Paste ( African Bronze, Inca Gold and Silver)

OAXACA
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Bronzclay with Gilders paste (African bronze and Silver)

Keep Playing, keep creating !!

Love,

Lorena Angulo